Don’t Chamber AR-15 Duty Rounds Multiple Times

Most officers carry their rifles in “crusier ready.” Bolt forward on an empty chamber, magazine inserted, safety on. They chamber a round when they deploy the rifle, and when the call is over, they eject that round and load it back onto the top of the magazine, unaware of the potential catastrophic failure they could be creating in their gun.

The photos above are from an actual officer’s rifle found during a department rifle inspection. The top round had been chambered so many times, the bullet came loose and was pushed back into the case, spilling powder all over the rifle. The bolt, chamber, firing pin channel, buffer tube, bore and trigger mechanism were so covered in powder, the gun would not even go into battery. If needed in an emergency, this rifle would have been useless.

Every single time a round in chambered in an AR15, the bullet lightly touches the rifling in the barrel. This pushes the bullet back into the case a little bit. Doing this repeatedly can unseat the bullet, spilling powder or allowing moisture inside the cartridge.

The other issue is the primer can fail. Every time a round is chambered in an AR15, the firing pin lightly contacts the primer. If this is repeated enough, the chemical compound on the inside of the primer can break down, resulting in the cartridge not firing when the trigger is pulled, the hammer drops, and the primer is struck by the firing pin.

The easiest way to tell if a round has been chambered is to look at the primer. A round that has been chambered at least once will have a small dimple in the primer left by the firing pin. The best bet is to take these rounds and use them for training or discard them. They should not be relied upon in a defensive firearm.